Today was pretty good, with modifications.

I was most interested in how today would go with regards to the arm/shoulder pain, as bench pressing seems to be the worst for it. I also opted to modify my approach, taking a cue from Paul Carter’s rep approach: 5,4,3,2,1,AMRAP (vs. the 5/3/1 5,5,3,5,5,5+). It dovetails pretty nicely. It would be a little less volume during the work-up, to hopefully avoid aggravating the issue. Save it all for the top set.

All in all, it worked well to do this. I did start to feel some pain, but not as much. The pain was mostly focused in my lower biceps, brachialis, brachioradialis. But there was some pain in my upper back/rotator area. Is it from the work done last Friday? Is it from the reduced volume? Hard to tell, but probably a little of both.

That said, things didn’t feel great; good, but not great. I felt a little stiff, a little shakey/unstable — for sure, my shoulder is at the root of all of this. My feeling at this point is to continue this abridged approach, preserve myself as much as possible, and try for the 1RM workup conservatively. If I don’t set a PR, then I don’t. Just do the best I can, take what I can, and go from there. The worst that it means is I have a longer road ahead (fine), and when I reset and recalculate my percentages I’d be working at a lighter weight, which will probably do me good anyways. So, it’ll be what it’ll be.

Otherwise, things felt good today. DB inclines didn’t give me trouble, and the pain reduced as the sets went along. I am trying to focus on all assistance work, having it be “the muscle moving” instead of anything else contributing to the movement. So reps are dropping, and I may drop the weight some too. But for now, I really want to get myself into that bodybuilding mindset.

5/3/1-based program

• Bench Press
  • bar x whatever
  • 105 x 5
  • 130 x 4
  • 160 x 3
  • 170 x 2
  • 200 x 1
  • 225 x 10
• Incline DB Press
  • 50e x 10
  • 50e x 10
  • 50e x 10
  • 50e x 10
  • 50e x 10
• Cable Rows
  • 135 x 12
  • 135 x 12
  • 135 x 12
  • 135 x 8
• Shrugs
  • 215 x 12
  • 215 x 12
  • 215 x 9
• Rope-handle Pressdowns
  • 65 x 12
  • 65 x 12
  • 65 x 9
• BB Curls
  • 65 x 12
  • 65 x 10
  • 65 x 8